VIRUDHUNAGAR: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Srivilliputhur has directed a vehicle manufacturing company in Pune and an auto-rickshaw dealer company in the district to pay a fine of Rs 67,490 to an auto-rickshaw driver in Mamsapuram for deficiency in service.
The commission comprising president SJ Chakkkaravarthy and member M Muthulakshmi issued the verdict in a petition filed by R Periyasamy against the chairman of a vehicle manufacturing company in Pune and the manager and service executive of an auto rickshaw dealer company in the district.
The complainant purchased an auto in July 2019 by paying Rs 3 lakh in two instalments and registered the vehicle at the RTO in Srivilliputhur. Following the purchase, Periyasamy serviced the vehicle in August, September, November, December and February 2020.
However, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, he could not service the vehicle for the next nine months. Then, on December 16, 2020, he gave the vehicle for service. However, the vehicle’s gearbox developed a snag on December 24, 2020, after a total of just 400 km of travel. When Periysamy brought this issue to the attention of the officers in the auto-rickshaw dealer company, he was surprised to know that, despite the company’s warranty terms and conditions indicating that he can claim the warranty either before 42 months or 1,20,000 km, his vehicle is not eligible for warranty.
Since the company refused to repair the vehicle without payment, Periyasamy paid Rs 7,490 for the service. In response to Periyasamy’s allegations in the petition, the respondents claimed that the gearbox failure of the vehicle occurred since the vehicle was not serviced for a prolonged period of nine months and the opposite parties can not provide any warranty of service.
The commission observed that the respondents had purposely rejected the warranty claim of the vehicle for the simple reason that the complainant had not done his service periodically. “During the said period, the world had to face the Covid-19 pandemic, and considering this, an exception should be made. The respondents did not consider the Covid-19 situation itself, amounting to deficiency in service,” the commission said. The respondents were directed to refund the repair amount of Rs 7, 490 along with Rs 50,000 compensation for mental agony and litigation expenses of Rs 10,000.